Storm’s position in the X-Men has been a little tenuous recently, as she hangs around in Astonishing while simultaneously being in Wakanda for Black Panther. While not promoted as an event, it’s a reasonable expectation that this series might just clear the situation up and put Storm back in the X-Men for good. After all, it starts out in Wakanda, but quickly draws on elements of the X-Men’s mythos rather than the Black Panther’s to put the story in motion.

Once you know this is a Storm miniseries, it isn’t hard to figure out who the villain is, and if you don’t want to know, look away now. It’s the Shadow King. Again. Admittedly, there aren’t many charactes with enough of a personal history with Storm to justify being a foil for her, but on the other hand, the two can only face off so many times before thiings start to seem a little wearing.

References to the X-Men’s history are welcome, but in true Yost fashion, they feel a little gratuitous and under-explained. His past work shows that he’s clearly a writer who enjoys dredging up the X-Men’s past, but in stark contrast to Carey’s measured revisitations, it feels more like he’s pleasing himself than the fans. The opening scene in the Morlock tunnels features an uncharacteristically stand-offish Cyclops bemoaning Ororo’s lack of commitment to the team which seems vastly out of step with the current “walk-in” nature of the team. Art-wise, it’s all perfectly passable, except for Campbell’s ridiculously under-rendered cover. Thankfully, Neves isn’t using Bianchi’s Storm costume design, because it really doesn’t work under any other artist.

Unfortunately, the importance of the series really relies on whether it puts Storm firmly back in the mutant-verse or not. If it does, then at least there’ll be some point to the exercise. If not, it’s doomed to be another of Storm’s instantly-sidelined and forgettable miniseries like many before it. Despite attempts to raise the character’s profile in recent years, all Marvel have managed to do is show that no writer they’ve got is especially sure what stories to tell with her.